Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

There are three essential elements to the Commonwealth plan. The Commonwealth will fund the hospital, the community will control the hospital and the hospital will deliver the same level of services that it safely and effectively delivered for many years before the state government started the downgrade. The Commonwealth plan means there will be $45 million more for health services in north-west Tasmania. The Commonwealth plan means one level of government funding the hospital and it means that the community that delivers the services and receives the services is the community that controls the services. This is a good model for public hospital service delivery. It is potentially a better model than that currently practised by the state governments.

Let me make this point: a state government that refused to accept what was, in effect, a $45-million free gift in health services for the people of north-western Tasmania would be insane; and a federal opposition that supported such a state government would be equally insane. This is a real challenge for the Leader of the Opposition: does he support what the Commonwealth is doing here? On Radio National, on Monday, he was given a chance to say where he stood five times. He wimped out five times—and he is turning his back now.

The people of Australia do not want a wimp for a Prime Minister and they do not want an alternative Prime Minister who swivels around in his seat like this whenever he is put under pressure. I say to the Leader of the Opposition: it is time to be a leader and not a follower; and it is time to be a decision maker and not a fence-sitter. He now says that he is some kind of a Liberal in disguise, but he cannot even be trusted to support Liberal policy.

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